Social security fraud spot-checks at CPH

People who are supposed to be available for work are being stopped as they collect their luggage.

Individuals and families receiving welfare benefits in Denmark are being stopped at the airport for trying to sneak a quick holiday without informing their local job centre.

Incoming passengers are being spot-checked at Copenhagen Airport to check if they are receiving social security benefits, the broadcaster DR Nyheder reports.

Anyone receiving unemployment and other benefits is legally obliged to be available for work. Permission to take a holiday must be obtained from the job centre.

It is the first time such spot-checks are being conducted since they were dropped by the government in 2016. One of the measures in the 2018 budget law is to tighten up the system against fraud.

“It is first and foremost to get an idea of the numbers of people who are leaving Denmark and are then not being available on the employment market or who are committing social security fraud in other ways,” said employment minister Troels Lund Poulsen.

Where and how
The checks are being made at arrival points and primarily focus on people who have flown in from outside the Schengen zone.

When passengers collect their luggage they are asked for their CPR number, which is checked against a register of people receiving social security benefits.

On the first day of the checks, 21 passengers were identified as being on benefits and who should have been available for work.